The street is located near Kerala’s Padanna village, which allegedly witnessed 22 youngsters trooping off to join the Islamic State’s militant army in recent times.

A Gaza Strip in the heart of Kasargod district?

Youngsters in a north Kerala municipality zone have been accused of swapping signboards to “rename” Thuruthi Street as Gaza Street after the contentious strip of land under Palestinian rule.

Intelligence agencies are not amused, despite claims that the stretch has been renamed in solidarity with those “targeted” by Israeli authorities. The reason? The street is located near Padanna village, which allegedly witnessed 22 youngsters trooping off to join the Islamic State’s militant army in recent times.

Municipal authorities said they haven’t been informed about the street being renamed, despite Kasargod district panchayat president AGC Basheer’s reported presence at the ceremony. Befathima Ibrahim, chairperson of the civic body, said she would look into the matter and rectify the problem at the earliest.

A Muslim League leader from the district claimed this was no serious matter. “One needn’t read too much into a prank committed by some youngsters of the area. Unlike Uttar Pradesh, we don’t plan to change place names. One has to take it sportingly,” he quipped, citing a beach named after Saddam Hussein in Kozhikode and another road bearing Libyan leader Muammar Gadaffi’s name in Malappuram to drive home his point.